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The 2025 NFL Draft is just on the horizon, and that means that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will be on the clock before we know it.
The Bucs have had success over the past few years both on the field and through the draft, but they will be looking to reach deeper into the playoffs. One thing that plagued Tampa Bay last season was its defense, as it kept opposing teams in games and likely even cost them a few wins.
While it is pretty obvious the Buccaneers will go defense-heavy in the 2025 NFL Draft, there is still the chance that they end up going offense at some point as well to help solidify some positions. According to ESPN's newest NFL insider, Peter Schrager, they will get that out of the way early in the first round with the 19th overall pick, selecting standout Arizona wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan.
My one and only mock draft, up now on ESPN. @ESPNNFL pic.twitter.com/BHIMdBI4mT
— Peter Schrager (@PSchrags) April 23, 2025
Seeing McMillan available at 19 is hard to imagine with many wide receiver needy teams ahead of them. However, there has been speculation that McMillan is dropping on big boards. I don't quite get why that is happening, as McMillan is one of the best options at the position in the draft.
McMillan is a big body wide receiver at 6'4" and makes incredibly hard catches look easy. He has elite ball skills and wins deep but sometimes can struggle against press coverage. His instinctive play and ability to feel routes and work back to the ball make him a quarterback's best friend.
McMillan set the Arizona Wildcats' school record for receiving yards over his three seasons (3,423) and was named a First-team All-American and All-Big 12 during his final season in 2024.
Tampa Bay may not be desperate to add a skill player on the offensive side of the ball, but it would be hard to pass up a player of McMillan's level. He is almost a split image of Mike Evans, and with Evans and Godwin not getting any younger, McMillan would be a great move in the direction of getting younger at the position while also immediately becoming an impactful depth piece.
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Roughly 24 hours after outsiders learned that the Cincinnati Bengals were acquiring veteran quarterback Joe Flacco from the Cleveland Browns, Bengals head coach Zac Taylor confirmed that Flacco will start over Jake Browning when 2-3 Cincinnati plays at the Green Bay Packers (2-1-1) this coming Sunday. While speaking with media members, Taylor explained that somewhat surprising decision. Why Zac Taylor believes he can get Joe Flacco "up to speed quickly" "He's already spent a lot of time meeting with us, getting up to speed, so I feel really good about where he's at," Taylor said about Flacco, per Dave Clark of the Cincinnati Enquirer. "You just know him. ...Very comfortable with his style, concepts he's good at, things that we do. All of the terminology, there's a carryover, more so than I would have anticipated. So I feel like we can get him up to speed quickly." Flacco lost three of four September starts with the Browns before the Super Bowl XLVII Most Valuable Player was benched in favor of rookie Dillon Gabriel. According to Pro Football Reference stats, Flacco began Wednesday ranked last in the NFL among qualified players with a 60.3 passer rating for the ongoing season. Additionally, he's 28th out of 32 signal-callers with a 36.7 adjusted QBR. That said, Flacco is a 40-year-old who has seen every defensive concept an opposing coordinator could and will throw his way. Back on Sept. 21, he helped the Browns earn a 13-10 win over the Packers in downtown Cleveland. Zac Taylor likes that Joe Flacco faced this Packers defense in September "It's different than a young quarterback coming in, trying to learn the system and understand what a defense is trying to do to try to challenge you," Taylor added about his decision to start Flacco versus the Packers. "Not only that, but he's played Green Bay this year, so he's already gone through a week of prep. ...Now the communication and the weekly rhythm is maybe different and unique, but he's already prepared for this opponent. So he gets a chance to refresh himself on that, while at the same time just learning our system and our terminology...and how we operate." Shortly after Taylor made his comments, ESPN BET had the Bengals listed as massive 14.5-point underdogs against Green Bay. Perhaps that line and the fact that he was discarded by Cleveland will give Flacco some extra motivation heading into the showdown that will take place at Lambeau Field.
North Carolina reportedly considering nuclear option with Bill Belichick, and that's justified
Former Yankees, Mariners prospect hospitalized following motorcycle crash
Jesús Montero failed to develop into the baseball star that some thought he might, despite repeatedly appearing on preseason top prospect rankings. The former New York Yankees and Seattle Mariners catcher failed to capitalize on that potential and turn it into a long career. Once viewed as New York's "catcher of the future," Montero played in just 226 games during his five-year MLB career. His last professional appearance came during the 2020-21 Venezuelan Winter League, where he went 0-for-17 at the plate with six strikeouts. Montero, according to Spanish-language reports out of Venezuela, has been hospitalized in his home country following a traffic accident. The now 35-year-old was reportedly riding his motorcycle when a suspected drunk driver hit him. Montero is in critical condition after suffering multiple leg fractures, broken ribs and lung damage. Jesus Montero's Yankees stint lasted 18 games New York originally signed Montero as an international amateur free agent in 2006. The power-hitting prospect, one of the best bats available in the free agent class, was given a $2 million signing bonus. By 2009, Montero was appearing on preseason prospect rankings — landing on Baseball America's Top 100 list in four consecutive seasons. The Yankees called Montero up for his MLB debut when rosters expanded in September 2011. He'd appear in 18 games, hitting .328/.406/.590 with four home runs in 69 PA. Jesus Montero traded to Mariners in January 2012 Montero was traded, along with right-hander Héctor Noesí, to the Mariners the following offseason for right-handers Michael Pineda and Jose Campos. Over parts of four seasons, he batted .247/.285/.383 over 796 PA with 24 home runs. Seattle ultimately sent him down to Triple-A due to his defensive limitations with the hope that he'd learn to play first base. His Seattle tenure was marred by constant rumblings about his physical shape and attitude, including a 2014 incident where he threw an ice cream sandwich at a scout while on a rehab assignment.
Michigan football QB Bryce Underwood skyrockets up CBS Sports' QB rankings
Michigan freshman QB Bryce Underwood has seen his game steadily improve since Week 1 of the season. The second week, at Oklahoma, was a stumbling block for the former No. 1 overall rated recruit, as he threw for just 142 yards in a loss to the Sooners. But after that game, Chip Lindsey and the Wolverines have let Underwood loose and he is utilizing both his legs and his arms. This past week, in a win over Wisconsin, Underwood threw for 270 yards and a TD -- a career day for the young player. He has built trust with a few WRs and has found reliable targets in Donaven McCulley and Andrew Marsh. Where CBS Sports ranks Bryce Underwood among all the QBs in college football Following Week 6 action, CBS Sports updated its QB power ranking. Underwood made a huge jump after his performance against the Badgers. He jumped from No. 33 to No. 24 and is now a top-25 QB in the country, per CBS Sports. CBS Sports has six Big Ten QBs ranked ahead of Underwood, but the Michigan phenom is ranked ahead of Demond Wiliams, Malik Washington, Aidan Chiles, and Drew Allar. In his first five games of his career, Underwood has passed for 1,003 yards, three TDs, and one interception. He has also run for 181 yards and three TDs. Underwood is finding himself surrounded by playmakers Bryce Underwood is going to be the future of Michigan, the Wolverines are going to build their team around him, but this season, he doesn't have to do it alone. Michigan has one of the best rushing attacks in college football, with Alabama transfer Justice Haynes leading the way. Haynes has rushed for over 100 yards in every game this season, and he's averaging over 130 yards per game. Haynes has eight TDs this season -- fourth most in the country. As mentioned above, McCulley and Marsh appear to be go-to targets. McCulley is the first Michigan WR to catch for over 100 yards since 2023, and Marsh, the true freshman, has made a few 50-50 catches this season, and building an early rapport with Underwood will key for those two moving forward. Underwood will be tested this weekend in Los Angeles against a good USC team. Fans can see the Wolverines in action at 7:30 p.m. ET on NBC.
4 concerning Vikings statistics that must improve after the bye
The Minnesota Vikings are a 3-2 football team heading into their bye week. They've done some good things through the first five weeks of the season, but they also have a lot of areas they need to improve. Frankly, the Vikings are a bit fortunate to have three wins, considering the comebacks they had to mount to beat the Bears and Browns. They've trailed going into the fourth quarter in four of their five games, including three games where they didn't score a touchdown in the first 45 minutes of action. That level of play isn't going to be nearly good enough for the rest of this season. The Vikings have had one of the easier schedules in the league so far, but they have one of the toughest schedules for the remainder of the campaign. Improvement must start with cleaning up these four unsightly statistics, which are all areas where the Vikings rank at or near the bottom of the league. Sack percentage (offense): 11.7 percent NFL rank: 32nd Through five weeks, no team has taken more sacks than the Vikings, whose quarterbacks have gone down 21 times on 180 dropbacks. That 11.7 percentage leads the league; the Ravens are the only other team with at least a 10 percent sack rate on offense. J.J. McCarthy was the worst offender, taking nine sacks on just 55 dropbacks over the first two weeks (16.4 percent). But Carson Wentz was sack-prone too, with 12 of them on 120 dropbacks. It's something McCarthy will have to show that he can improve in order to regain the starting role. Sacks fall on the play-caller, the quarterback, and the offensive line to varying degrees. All three have to find a way to fix this drive-killing issue for the Vikings after the bye week, starting against an Eagles defense that is surprisingly towards the bottom of the league in sacks so far. Third down conversion percentage (offense): 31 percent NFL rank: 31st This one, to some extent, goes hand in hand with the previous stat. The Vikings are converting third downs less than a third of the time, which is not where you want to be. Only the Titans and rookie QB Cam Ward have been less effective on third down this season (29 percent). Kevin O'Connell's team was up near 40 percent last year. Part of this stat has to do with the average third-down distances teams face. But despite their sack woes, the Vikings are actually near the middle of the pack in terms of yards needed on third down. One reason for that is that third down is where a big chunk of those sacks have occurred. Third and longs are tough for everyone, so a big key to being successful on third down is avoiding those situations by staying on schedule on early downs. With that said, the Vikings are also well below the league average with a 47 percent conversion rate on third downs of three yards or fewer remaining, so they also need to improve in short-yardage situations. Percentage of first downs gained via rush (defense): 47.1 percent NFL rank: 32nd Most of the statistics for the Vikings' defense are pretty positive. They've been good so far, even if it's fair to admit that their advanced numbers are skewed a bit by a dominant performance against the Bengals in Week 3. The one area why the Vikings could use some real improvement is in their run defense. The raw numbers for the Vikings' rushing defense (yards per game, yards per carry, etc.) aren't great. But this stat we found was particularly interesting. 47 percent of Vikings opponents' first downs are coming on the ground, which is the highest rate in the league. Teams aren't having a ton of success against the Vikings through the air, but why throw the ball when you're confident you can move the chains with the run game? That stat would be notable by itself, but it's even more interesting when you look at the 2024 numbers and see that the Vikings had the second-lowest rate in this category last season, with just 25.5 percent of opponent first downs being acquired via the run. Accepted penalties per game: 8.8 NFL rank: 1st (in a bad way) Simply put, the Vikings have to find a way to stop generating so many flags against them. They lead the league in both total accepted penalties (44) and penalties committed on a per-game basis. They've had procedural issues on offense, they've committed fouls on defense, and they've been flagged in the kickoff and punt phases on special teams. Across the board, they have to clean up their execution and avoid the negatives that put them in more difficult siutations.
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